House - medieval

The National Monuments Service's description

Archaeological testing (01E1202) on a small, irregularly shaped development site (dims c. 19m E-W; 13m N-S) between Market Street and Castle Street revealed medieval occupation levels and a corner of a large late medieval house which were fully resolved under the same licence. A thin subsoil overlies bedrock which sloped down to the S (D 0.45-1.15m). The earliest feature was a partly rock-cut ditch (Wth of top 3-6m; max. D 2m) with Ham Green pottery likely to be late twelfth century in date at the base beneath redeposited subsoil. The top fill, a green/grey cultivation soil, covered much of the site and filled intercutting pits in the subsoil. Only a portion of the N wall (int. L 4m plus; Wth 0.7m; max. H 0.7m) and the E wall (int. L 2m; Wth 0.9m; H 0.5m) of a late medieval building were exposed but there was a recess for a fireplace (Wth 0.7m plus; D 0.54m) in the E wall. Three occupation floors were represented by introduced clays covered by loamy soils with ash sealed beneath grey silty clays. A masonry wall extending N from the NE corner of the building was added, and a stone-lined pit with a stone-lined base just NE of the building, together with a deep rock-cut pit that contained water and could have been a well, are probably associated with the house. The finds included roof and floor tile fragments and sherds of medieval pottery. (Hayden 2002)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 8 July 2019

References

Hayden, A. 2002 Archaeological excavation of a site to the rear of Market Street, Trim, Co. Meath. Licence No. 01E1202. Unpublished report, Archaeological Projects Ltd.